Editing Battle of Crete (section)

===Order of battle===
{{main|Battle of Crete order of battle}}

====Allied forces====
No RAF units were based permanently at Crete until April 1941, but airfield construction had begun, radar sites had been built and stores delivered. Equipment was scarce in the Mediterranean and in the backwater of Crete. The British forces had seven commanders in seven months. In early April, airfields at Maleme and Heraklion and the landing [[Pigi Airport|strip at Rethymno]] on the north coast were ready and another strip at [[Kasteli Airport|Pediada-Kastelli]] was nearly finished. After the German invasion of Greece, the role of the Crete garrison changed from the defence of a naval anchorage to preparing to repel an invasion. On 17 April, Group Captain [[George Beamish]] was appointed Senior Air Officer, Crete, taking over from a flight-lieutenant whose duties and instructions had been only vaguely defined. Beamish was ordered to prepare the reception of the [[Bristol Blenheim]] bombers of [[No. 30 Squadron RAF|30]] and [[No. 203 Squadron RAF|203]] squadrons from Egypt and the remaining fighter aircraft from Greece, to cover the evacuation of W Force, which enabled the transfer of {{nowrap|25,000 British}} and Dominion troops to the island, preparatory to their relief by fresh troops from Egypt.{{sfn|Richards|1974|pp=324–325}}

The navy tried to deliver {{convert|27000 |LT|t}} of supplies from {{nowrap|1–20 May}} 1941, but Luftwaffe attacks forced most ships to turn back, and only {{cvt |2,700|LT|t}} were delivered. Only about {{nowrap|3,500 trained}} British and Greek soldiers were on the island, and the defence devolved to the shaken and poorly equipped troops from Greece, assisted by the last fighters of [[No. 33 Squadron RAF|33]], [[No. 80 Squadron RAF|80]] and [[No. 112 Squadron RAF|112]] squadrons and a squadron of the [[Fleet Air Arm]], once the Blenheims were ordered back to Egypt. In mid-May, the four squadrons had about two dozen aircraft, of which only about twelve were serviceable due to a lack of tools and spares. The unfinished ground at Pediada-Kastelli was blocked with trenches and heaps of soil and all but narrow flight paths were blocked at Heraklion and [[Rethymno]] by barrels full of earth. At Maleme, [[Revetment (aircraft)|blast pens]] were built for the aircraft, and barrels full of petrol were kept ready to be ignited by machine-gun fire. Around each ground, a few field guns, anti-aircraft guns, two [[infantry tank]]s and two or three light tanks were sited. The three areas were made into independent sectors, but there were only eight [[QF 3-inch 20 cwt|QF 3-inch]] and twenty [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|Bofors 40 mm]] anti-aircraft guns.{{sfn|Richards |1974|pp=325–327}}

[[File:Lieutenant General Freyberg gazes over the parapet.jpg|thumb|left|[[Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg|Major-general Freyberg]] (right), Allied commander at the Battle of Crete]]
On 30 April 1941, [[Major-general]] [[Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg|Bernard Freyberg]] [[Victoria Cross|VC]] a [[New Zealand Army]] officer, was appointed commander of the Allied forces on Crete (Creforce).{{sfn|Playfair|Flynn|Molony|Toomer|1956|p=126}} He was Churchill's personal choice, as the British Prime Minister admired his loyalty and the bravery he had shown during the First World War.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peponas |first=Emmanouil |date=April–May 2021 |title=Winston Churchill and the Battle of Crete (1941) |journal=Electronic Journal of Social and Strategic Studies |language=en |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=78–90 |doi=10.47362/ejsss.2021.2112 |doi-access=free |issn=0975-6299}}</ref> By May, the Greek forces consisted of approximately {{nowrap|9,000 troops:}} three [[battalion]]s of the [[5th Infantry Division (Greece)|5th Greek Division]], which had been left behind when the rest of the unit had been transferred to the mainland against the German invasion; the [[Cretan Gendarmerie]] (2,500 men); the [[Heraklion]] Garrison Battalion, a defence unit made up mostly of transport and supply personnel; and remnants of the 12th and 20th Greek divisions, which had also escaped from the mainland to Crete and were organised under British command. Cadets from the Gendarmerie academy and recruits from Greek training centres in the [[Peloponnese]] had been transferred to Crete to replace the trained soldiers sent to fight on the mainland. These troops were already organised into numbered recruit training regiments, and it was decided to use this structure to organise the Greek troops, supplementing them with experienced men arriving from the mainland.

The [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]] contingent consisted of the original {{nowrap|14,000-man}} British garrison and another {{nowrap|25,000 British}} and Commonwealth troops evacuated from the mainland. These evacuees were a combination of intact units, composite units improvised locally, stragglers from every type of army unit, and [[deserter]]s; most of them lacked heavy equipment. The main formed units were the [[2nd New Zealand Division]], less the 6th Brigade and division headquarters; the [[Australian 6th Division|19th Australian Brigade Group]]; and the [[14th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|14th Infantry Brigade]] of the British [[6th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|6th Division]]. There were about 15,000 front-line Commonwealth infantry, augmented by about 5,000 non-infantry personnel equipped as infantry and a composite Australian [[artillery battery]].<ref name=long218-219>{{harvnb|Long|1953|pp=218–219}}.</ref> On 4 May, Freyberg sent a message to the British commander in the Middle East, General [[Archibald Wavell]], requesting the evacuation of about 10,000 unwanted personnel who did not have weapons and had "little or no employment other than getting into trouble with the civil population". As the weeks passed, some 3,200 British, 2,500 Australian and 1,300 New Zealander troops were evacuated to Egypt, but it became evident that it would not be possible to remove all the unwanted troops. Between the night of 15 May and morning of 16 May, the allied forces were reinforced by the 2nd Battalion of the [[Royal Leicestershire Regiment|Leicester Regiment]], which had been transported from Alexandria to Heraklion by {{HMS|Gloucester|62|6}} and {{HMS|Fiji|58|6}}.<ref name="Cunningham S2 P5">Cunningham, Section 2 paragraph 5</ref>

On 17 May, the garrison on Crete included about 15,000 Britons, 7,750 New Zealanders, 6,500 Australians and 10,200 Greeks.<ref name=long210-213>{{harvnb|Long|1953|pp=210–213}}</ref> On the morning of 19 May, these were augmented by a further 700 men of the [[Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders]], who had been transported from Alexandria to [[Tymbaki]] overnight by {{HMS|Glengyle||6}}.<ref name="Cunningham S2 P5"/>

====Axis forces====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 141-0816, Kreta, Lastensegler DFS 230, Fallschirmjäger.jpg|thumb|A ''[[Fallschirmjäger]]'' and a [[DFS 230]] glider in Crete]]

On 25 April, Hitler signed Directive 28, ordering the invasion of Crete. The Royal Navy retained control of the waters around Crete, so an [[amphibious assault]] would have been a risky proposition. With German air superiority assured, an airborne invasion was chosen. This was to be the first big airborne invasion, although the Germans had made smaller parachute and [[military glider|glider]]-borne assaults in the invasions of [[German invasion of Denmark (1940)|Denmark]] and [[Norwegian Campaign|Norway]], [[Battle of Belgium|Belgium]], [[Battle of the Netherlands|the Netherlands]], [[Battle of France|France]] and mainland [[Battle of Greece|Greece]]. In Greece, {{lang|de|Fallschirmjäger}} had been dispatched to capture the bridge over the [[Corinth Canal]], which was being readied for demolition by the [[Royal Engineers]]. German engineers landed near the bridge in gliders, while parachute infantry attacked the perimeter defence. The bridge was damaged in the fighting, which slowed the German advance and gave the Allies time to evacuate 18,000 troops to Crete and 23,000 to Egypt, albeit with the loss of most of their heavy equipment.<ref>{{harvnb|Antill|2005|p=13}}.</ref>

[[File:German troops board a Junkers 52 for Crete.jpg|thumb|upright|left|German [[mountain troops]] board a Junkers Ju 52 for Crete, 20 May 1941.]]
In May, [[Fliegerkorps XI|''Fliegerkorps'' XI]] moved from Germany to the Athens area, but the destruction wrought during the invasion of Greece forced a postponement of the attack to 20 May. New airfields were built, and 280 long-range bombers, {{nowrap|150 dive-bombers,}} {{nowrap|90 Bf 109s,}} {{nowrap|90 Bf 110s}} and 40 reconnaissance aircraft of [[8th Air Corps (Germany)|''Fliegerkorps'' VIII]] were assembled, along with {{nowrap|530 Ju 52}} transport aircraft and 100 gliders. The {{nobr|Bf 109s}} and ''Stuka'' dive-bombers were based on forward airfields at Molaoi, Melos and Karpathos (then Scarpanto), with Corinth and Argos as base airfields. The {{nobr|Bf 110s}} were based at airfields near Athens, Argos and Corinth, all within {{cvt|200|mi|km}} of Crete, and the bomber or reconnaissance machines were accommodated at Athens, Salonica and a detachment on Rhodes, along with bases in Bulgaria at Sofia and Plovdiv, ten of the airfields being all-weather and {{convert|200|–|250|mi|km}} from Crete. The transport aircraft flew from bases near Athens and southern Greece, including Eleusis, Tatoi, Megara and Corinth. British night bombers attacked the areas in the last few nights before the invasion, and Luftwaffe aircraft eliminated the British aircraft on Crete.{{sfn|Air|2001 |p=124}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-L19017, Gebirgsjäger vor dem Start nach Kreta.jpg|thumb|German Mountain troops before their transfer to Crete.]]
The Germans planned to use {{lang|de|Fallschirmjäger}} to capture important points on the island, including airfields that could then be used to fly in supplies and reinforcements. ''Fliegerkorps'' XI was to co-ordinate the attack by the [[German 7th Air Division|7th ''Flieger'' Division]], which would land by parachute and glider, followed by the [[22nd Air Landing Division (Wehrmacht)|22nd Air Landing Division]] once the airfields were secure. The operation was scheduled for 16 May 1941, but was postponed to 20 May, with the [[5th Mountain Division (Wehrmacht)|5th Mountain Division]] replacing the 22nd Air Landing Division. To support the German attack on Crete, eleven Italian submarines took post off Crete or the British bases of Sollum and Alexandria in Egypt.<ref name="Bertke, Smith 2012, p. 505">{{harvnb|Bertke|Smith|Kindell|2012|p=505}}.</ref>{{ref label|Note|d|d}}